A month after a promising Futsal World Cup, France and Morocco faced each other this Tuesday in a friendly match at the Espace Mayenne in Laval. This meeting turned to the advantage of the Tricolores (3-1) for the first time in history after two Moroccan victories and two draws in the past.
Between Moroccans who are a nation that counts in Futsal and who have been eliminated from the World Cup with honors in the quarterfinals by Brazilfuture winner, and France, 4th for its first participation in the tournament, the gap seemed small and this meeting therefore promised to be all the more exciting.
THE Lions of the Atlas entered the game well and Lokoka was forced to quickly make half a dozen saves, particularly against an agitated Chaaraoui. Saved by their goalkeeper, the Blues showed realism and opened the scoring with Mamadou Touré, who took a ball pushed back by the post (11th).
From then on, Hicham Dguig's men pushed but Lokoka continued to make a series of saves against Chaaraoui in particular. By insisting, the reigning African champions were still rewarded by equalizing by El Ayyane, who scored on a serve from El Mesrar at the start of the second period (25th).
Lokoka, the nightmare of Morocco
In search of a second goal, Morocco was however surprised on the counter in a power-play situation (a field player entered in place of the goalkeeper in an offensive situation) and Abdessamad Mohamed, the top French scorer of Moroccan origin , put the France in mind. In the process, in a similar situation, Lokoka, decidedly the executioner of the Moroccans, doubled the lead with a lob (27th). Two infuriating goals for the Atlas Lions punished like “blues”…
A few minutes later, the last French rampart repelled a shot from El Mesrar on the post while the Moroccans gave in to frustration by being sanctioned with three yellow cards, including one for Dguig. A scenario that is inevitably hard to swallow for the quarter-finalists of the World Cup who have clearly been trapped.
France
